Geppert Bros. ‘Recycles’ Philadelphia State Hospital
February 27, 2024
This article originally appeared in the September/October 2006 issue of DEMOLITION.
Long an institution, then an eyesore, along Philadelphia’s Roosevelt Boulevard, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania’s Byberry State Hospital is finally being demolished. Actually, it is better to say that the Philadelphia-based National Demolition Association charter member Geppert Bros. Inc. is “recycling” the structures on the site in preparation for the redevelopment of senior citizen housing and light industrial and commercial reuse.
Built in 1910 and 1920, Byberry was located in a bucolic setting in the far northeast section of the city of Philadelphia amid farmland in a park-like setting. This system for treating the mentally ill arose from a Quaker tradition where peaceful settings and a calm environment were believed to help the mind “cure” itself.
Byberry was considered state-of-the-art when it was constructed in the early 20th century. The facility included a large centralized boiler house that provided heat and hot water to all the residential, administrative and treatment buildings spread across the 132-acre site. Two-tiered tunnels containing glassed passageways to move patients and utilities viaducts between the buildings crisscrossed the complex.
Byberry reached its usage peak of 5,500 residents and a staff of over 800 in the mid-1950s. The facility had grown to over 60 buildings and underwent major renovations in 1949. In the early 1970s, the U.S. Supreme Court, reviewing the nation’s mental health system, ruled that institutions like Byberry could not be used to “warehouse” the mentally infirmed. The entire delivery system for mental health services in the United States changed almost overnight. Large mental institutions were “cleaned out” of their patients, sometimes to the great detriment of these residents. Severely ill people were often “dumped” in urban centers to become lost in the large cities, homeless and afraid.
Byberry’s decline began. Soon it became a haunt of after-hours parties, dirt bikes and rampant destruction. The inevitable removal of any item of value from piping and furniture to doors and windows began. Soon the beautiful green campus was overgrown, and the brick buildings were covered in ivy and graffiti. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, realizing that the residential quality of the surrounding neighborhood and the prime location near Interstate 95 and the Pennsylvania Turnpike, tried for years to sell the property for development. Demolition bids for the site were conducted almost every other year in the 1980s and 1990s in the hope that Byberry could be put to a more productive use.
Finally, Western Development Company of Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, famous for its work in urban areas such as the redevelopment of Philadelphia’s Naval Capehart Housing into upscale housing, decided to undertake the challenge of bringing the Byberry site back to life. They are developing a 398-unit 55 and older residential housing complex near the banks of the Pennypack Creek that will include a community center, pool and tennis courts. Westrum is donating 25 acres of the site as an open space and is also partnering with Brandywine Realty Trust to develop 50 acres for light industrial and commercial uses.
Geppert Bros. is presented with the challenge of clearing this massive site while maintaining public safety and keeping the surrounding neighbors happy during the yearlong demolition. Their contract with Westrum calls for the removal of over 25 separate buildings, the connecting tunnel systems, over 5,000 PCB-containing light ballasts and 100,000 linear feet of asbestos-laden pipe insulation, ACM-containing floor tiles and most of the overgrown vegetation. They also have to build two ponds for stormwater retention during the massive project.
The secret to dealing with a site this large is extensive pre-planning. You need to marshal your forces like you’re preparing for the D-Day invasion. In the winter of this year, Geppert Bros. developed a plan to save what salvageable materials existed on the site, control public access and deal with the large volume of asbestos on-site.
Coordinating the asbestos removal with their subcontractor, Delta Removal of nearby Southampton, Pennsylvania, Geppert Bros. planned to follow directly behind the Delta teams of abatement workers to salvage 3 x 12 yellow pine beams that were used in some of Byberry’s roofs.
They were dealing with the demolition and on-site recycling of over 25 buildings, most two or three stories high, connected by underground tunnels. The construction was mostly brick and concrete with some of the larger structures having some steel. Almost all of the neocolonial buildings had wood roofs with slate shingles.
As with every demolition contractor, Geppert Bros. wanted to maximize the amount of material that could be reused on-site and limit the number of trips to the landfill, especially with the rising price of gasoline and diesel. Starting with a fleet of eight excavators, two large bucket loaders and a couple of cranes with wrecking balls, Geppert Bros. began to attack the site in earnest in early spring. Their plan calls for the recycling and reuse, on-site, as fill, of over 150,000 tons of aggregate material from the 25 structures that once made up Byberry State Hospital, using their Eagle Crusher plant. Geppert Bros. believes that they can limit the number of loads going to the landfill to less than 150, a minor miracle considering the size of the site.
Led by Geppert Bros. Vice President Pasquale Marconi and General Superintendent Gary Patrick, a team of 10 to 15 operators, six or seven laborers and Delta Removal’s 60 asbestos abatement workers intend to clear the entire site in less than 12 months. This work also includes the removal of all foundations, interior roads and small concrete structures that dot the site.
Geppert Bros. has hired Green Mountain Landscaping from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, as a subcontractor to do the land-clearing and tree removal across the massive 132-acre site. One of the many interesting challenges that Geppert Bros. faced when they arrived on-site was a significant tick infestation that required the company to spray the entire area to avoid a potential Lyme disease problem.
Perhaps the most challenging part of the job thus far has been dealing with the host of “site invaders” that plague the site.
As with many long-abandoned locales, Byberry evolved, over time, into a gathering site for illegal parties and a haven for a subculture of “urban explorers.” Some in the surrounding neighborhood hoped the site would remain dormant or be developed into some sort of park. Geppert Bros. has had to make substantial investments in fencing and security in the oft-vain attempt to keep out people using the site for their own amusement.
Utilizing the services of fellow NDA member MP Demolition, who provided safety services, coordinated Geppert Bros. on-site random drug testing program and developed the company’s community outreach effort, every effort was made to involve the neighborhood with the project. MP Demolition and Geppert Bros. developed a project website to inform people that demolition was beginning and the site was no longer open to the public. They spent thousands of dollars to fence the entire site and provide round-the-clock security. They coordinated their efforts with community leaders and the Philadelphia Police Department. They not only wanted to protect their equipment and control their insurance costs but also wanted to make sure that people “invading” the site understood the risks they were taking. “Demolition was ongoing and Byberry was no place to play anymore” was the message.
At times this effort has proved difficult as people continue to cut through the fencing and intrude on the site. Some have even been so bold as to take photographs of their nightly adventures at Byberry and post them on a local website.
Fortunately, the days of all-nighters will soon be over. Geppert Bros. is ahead of schedule and the buildings at Byberry are falling fast. If things continue the way they have been going, Marconi figures that Westrum will be able to begin site work for their new residential development in the spring of next year.
Geppert Bros.’ work at Byberry is a prime example of just how far the industry has come in maximizing the reuse of materials generated for our job sites. By crushing most of the aggregate materials coming out of the 25+ buildings that they are demolishing and reusing on-site, Geppert Bros. is saving on fuel and landfill costs while providing a sound reuse for a material that was once considered debris. A brand new community will literally rise from the “rubble of the past.”